The present invention refers to a new variety of triploid lemon which will hereinafter be denominated as the ‘Yellow Star Seedless’ lemon tree. The ‘Yellow Star Seedless’ tree produces commercially seedless lemon fruit, bearing in late August through to March in the citrus areas of Sicily, Italy. The ‘Yellow Star Seedless’ plant is a triploid—having three sets of chromosomes. The trees bear from year three, and have consistent year-to-year bearing habits. The fruit has acceptable rind thickness, acid-sugar ratios and color, and has an average juice content of 30-40% at harvest.
In the development of new commercial fruit varieties, specific characteristics provide a premium on those fruit varieties that mature early or late in the growing season. For a new fruit variety to be a commercial success, the fruit must be of good size, good color, and also have good holding/storage. Advantageous harvest times and shipping characteristics are also important, as is the date the fruit matures. This new invention meets all of the aforementioned criteria and therefore would be of commercial appeal to the consumer.
The ‘Yellow Star Seedless’ variety is a triploid sexual hybrid. Polyploidy in citrus is well known (See pp. 191-193 of Speigel-Roy & Goldschmidt, 1996.) Citrus and related genera are typically diploidic and have two sets of 9 chromosomes (2n=18). Triploids, tetraploid and hexaploids exist naturally but occur in low percentages in the population. Citrus triploids are cytologically recognizable by the presence of an additional set of Chromosomes. In some cases, triploids are also morphologically recognizable.